Coriolanus

by William Shakespeare

  And cannot now accept, to grace16 him only That thought he could do more. A very little

  I have yielded to. Fresh embassies and suits,

  Nor19 from the state nor private friends, hereafter Will I lend ear to.-- Ha? What shout is this?

  Shout within

  Shall I be tempted to infringe my vow

  In the same time 'tis made? I will not.

  Enter Virgilia, Volumnia, Valeria, young Martius, with Attendants

  My wife comes foremost, then the honoured mould23

  Wherein this trunk was framed24, and in her hand The grandchild to her blood. But out, affection25!

  All bond and privilege of nature break:

  Let it be virtuous to be obstinate27.

  Virgilia curtsies

  What is that curtsy worth? Or those dove's eyes28, Which can make gods forsworn29? I melt, and am not Of stronger earth than others. My mother bows,

  Volumnia bows

  As if Olympus31 to a molehill should In supplication nod: and my young boy

  Hath an aspect33 of intercession, which Great nature cries 'Deny not'. Let the Volsces

  Plough Rome and harrow Italy: I'll never

  Be such a gosling to obey instinct, but stand36, As if a man were author37 of himself And knew no other kin.

  VIRGILIA My lord and husband.

  CORIOLANUS These eyes are not the same I wore in Rome.

  VIRGILIA The sorrow that delivers41 us thus changed Makes you think so.

  CORIOLANUS Like a dull43 actor now, I have forgot my part, and I am out44, Even to a full disgrace. Best of my flesh45, Forgive my tyranny46, but do not say For that 'Forgive our Romans'. O, a kiss

  Virgilia kisses him

  Long as my exile, sweet as my revenge!

  Now, by the jealous queen of heaven49, that kiss I carried from thee, dear, and my true lip

  Hath virgined it e'er since. You gods, I prate51, And the most noble mother of the world

  Leave unsaluted: sink, my knee, i'th'earth:

  Kneels

  Of thy deep duty more impression54 show Than that of common sons.

  VOLUMNIA O, stand up blest!

  Coriolanus rises

  Whilst, with no softer cushion than the flint,

  I kneel before thee, and unproperly58

  Show59 duty as mistaken all this while Between the child and parent.

  She kneels

  CORIOLANUS What's this? Your knees to me?

  To your corrected62 son?

  Then let the pebbles on the hungry63 beach

  He raises her

  Fillip64 the stars: then let the mutinous winds Strike the proud cedars gainst the fiery sun,

  Murd'ring impossibility66, to make What cannot be, slight67 work.

  VOLUMNIA Thou art my warrior: I holp68 to frame thee.

  Do you know this lady?

  CORIOLANUS The noble sister of Publicola70, The moon71 of Rome, chaste as the icicle That's curdied72 by the frost from purest snow And hangs on Dian73's temple: dear Valeria!

  VOLUMNIA This is a poor epitome74 of yours,

  Indicating Young Martius

  Which by th'interpretation75 of full time May show like all76 yourself.

  CORIOLANUS The god of soldiers77,

  To Young Martius

  With the consent of supreme Jove, inform78

  Thy thoughts with nobleness, that thou mayst prove

  To shame unvulnerable, and stick80 i'th'wars Like a great sea-mark standing every flaw81, And saving those that eye82 thee!

  VOLUMNIA Your knee, sirrah.

  To Young Martius, who then kneels

  CORIOLANUS That's my brave boy.

  VOLUMNIA Even he, your wife, this lady, and myself, Are suitors to you.

  CORIOLANUS I beseech you, peace:

  Or if you'd ask, remember this before:

  The89 thing I have forsworn to grant may never Be held by you denials. Do not bid me

  Dismiss my soldiers, or capitulate91

  Again with Rome's mechanics92. Tell me not Wherein I seem unnatural: desire not t'allay93

  My rages and revenges with your colder94 reasons.

  VOLUMNIA O, no more, no more!

  You have said you will not grant us anything:

  For we have nothing else to ask, but that

  Which you deny already: yet we will ask

  That, if you fail in our request, the blame

  May hang upon your hardness: therefore hear us.

  CORIOLANUS Aufidius, and you Volsces, mark: for we'll Hear nought from Rome in private. Your request?

  He sits

  VOLUMNIA Should we be silent and not speak, our raiment103

  And state of bodies would bewray104 what life We have led since thy exile. Think with thyself105

  How more unfortunate than all living women

  Are we come hither: since that thy sight, which should

  Make our eyes flow with joy, hearts dance with comforts,

  Constrains them109 weep and shake with fear and sorrow, Making the mother, wife and child to see

  The son, the husband and the father tearing

  His country's bowels out: and to poor we

  Thine enmity's most capital113: thou barr'st us Our prayers to the gods, which is a comfort

  That all but we enjoy. For how can we,

  Alas, how can we for our country pray?

  Whereto we are bound, together with thy victory,

  Whereto we are bound? Alack, or118 we must lose The country, our dear nurse, or else thy person,

  Our comfort in the country. We must find

  An evident121 calamity, though we had Our wish, which122 side should win. For either thou Must as a foreign recreant123 be led With manacles through our streets, or else

  Triumphantly tread on thy country's ruin,

  And bear the palm126 for having bravely shed Thy wife and children's blood. For myself, son,

  I purpose128 not to wait on fortune till These wars determine129: if I cannot persuade thee Rather to show a noble grace to both parts130

  Than seek the end of one, thou shalt no sooner

  March to assault thy country than to tread --

  Trust to't, thou shalt not -- on thy mother's womb

  That brought thee to this world.

  VIRGILIA Ay, and mine, that brought you forth this boy, To keep your name living to time.

  YOUNG MARTIUS a137 shall not tread on me: I'll run away till I am bigger, but then I'll fight.

  CORIOLANUS Not of a woman's tenderness to be139, Requires nor child nor woman's face to see:

  I have sat141 too long.

  He rises and turns to leave

  VOLUMNIA Nay, go not from us thus:

  If it were so that our request did tend143

  To save the Romans, thereby to destroy

  The Volsces whom you serve, you might condemn us

  As poisonous of your honour. No, our suit

  Is that you reconcile them: while147 the Volsces May say 'This mercy we have showed', the Romans,

  'This we received', and each in either side

  Give the all-hail150 to thee, and cry 'Be blest For making up this peace!' Thou know'st, great son,

  The end of war's uncertain: but this152 certain, That if thou conquer Rome, the benefit

  Which thou shalt thereby reap is such a name

  Whose repetition will be dogged with curses:

  Whose chronicle thus writ: 'The man was noble,

  But with his last attempt he wiped it157 out, Destroyed his country, and his name remains

  To th'ensuing age abhorred.' Speak to me, son:

  Thou hast affected160 the fine strains of honour, To imitate the graces of the gods161, To tear with thunder the wide cheeks o'th'air,

  And yet to charge thy sulphur with a bolt163

  That should but rive164 an oak. Why dost not speak?

  Think'st thou it honourable for a noble man

  Still166 to remember wrongs? Daughter, speak you: He cares not for y
our weeping. Speak thou, boy:

  Perhaps thy childishness will move him more

  Than can our reasons. There's no man in the world

  More bound to's mother, yet here he lets me prate

  Like one i'th'stocks171. Thou hast never in thy life Showed thy dear mother any courtesy,

  When she, poor hen, fond of173, Has clucked thee to the wars and safely home,

  Loaden with honour. Say my request's unjust,

  And spurn me back: but if it be not so,

  Thou art not honest177, and the gods will plague thee That thou restrain'st178 from me the duty which To a mother's part belongs. He turns away:

  Down, ladies: let us shame him with our knees.

  To his surname 'Coriolanus' 'longs181 more pride Than pity to our prayers. Down: an end:

  This is the last. So we will home to Rome,

  The Ladies and Young Martius kneel

  And die among our neighbours. Nay, behold's:

  This boy, that cannot tell what he would have185, But kneels and holds up hands for fellowship,

  Does reason187 our petition with more strength Than thou hast to deny't. Come, let us go:

  This fellow had a Volscian to189 his mother: His wife is in Corioles, and his child

  Like him by chance. Yet give us our dispatch191: I am hushed until our city be afire,

  And then I'll speak a little.

  [Coriolanus] holds her by the hand, silent

  CORIOLANUS O mother, mother!

  What have you done? Behold, the heavens do ope,

  The gods look down, and this unnatural scene

  They laugh at. O my mother, mother, O!

  You have won a happy victory to Rome.

  But for your son, believe it, O believe it,

  Most dangerously you have with him prevailed,

  If not most mortal201 to him. But let it come.

  The Ladies and Young Martius rise

  Aufidius, though I cannot make true202 wars, I'll frame convenient203 peace. Now, good Aufidius, Were you in my stead, would you have heard

  A mother less? Or granted less, Aufidius?

  AUFIDIUS I was moved withal206.

  CORIOLANUS I dare be sworn you were:

  And, sir, it is no little thing to make

  Mine eyes to sweat209 compassion. But, good sir, What peace you'll make, advise me. For my part,

  I'll not to Rome: I'll back211 with you, and pray you Stand to212 me in this cause.-- O mother! Wife!

  AUFIDIUS I am glad thou hast set thy mercy and thy honour

  Aside

  At difference in thee: out of that I'll work

  Myself a former fortune215.

  CORIOLANUS Ay, by and by:

  To the Ladies

  But we will drink together, and you shall bear

  A better witness218 back than words, which we, On like conditions, will have counter-sealed219.

  Come, enter with us. Ladies, you deserve

  To have a temple built you: all the swords

  In Italy, and her confederate arms222, Could not have made this peace.

  Exeunt

  [Act 5 Scene 4]

  running scene 20

  Enter Menenius and Sicinius

  MENENIUS See you yond coign1 o'th'Capitol, yond corner-stone?

  SICINIUS Why, what of that?

  MENENIUS If it be possible for you to displace it with your little finger, there is some hope the ladies of Rome, especially his

  mother, may prevail with him. But I say there is no hope in't:

  our throats are sentenced and stay upon6 execution.

  SICINIUS Is't possible that so short a time can alter the condition8 of a man?

  MENENIUS There is differency9 between a grub and a butterfly, yet your butterfly was a grub. This Martius is grown from

  man to dragon: he has wings: he's more than a creeping

  thing.

  SICINIUS He loved his mother dearly.

  MENENIUS So did he me, and he no more remembers his mother now than an eight-year-old horse. The tartness of

  his face sours ripe grapes. When he walks, he moves like

  an engine17, and the ground shrinks before his treading. He is able to pierce a corslet with his eye, talks like a knell18, and his hum is a battery. He sits in his state, as a thing made for19

  Alexander. What he bids be done is finished with his bidding20.

  He wants21 nothing of a god but eternity and a heaven to throne22 in.

  SICINIUS Yes, mercy, if you report him truly.

  MENENIUS I paint him in the character24. Mark what mercy his mother shall bring from him. There is no more mercy in him

  than there is milk in a male tiger: that shall our poor city

  find: and all this is long of27 you.

  SICINIUS The gods be good unto us!

  MENENIUS No, in such a case the gods will not be good unto us.

  When we banished him, we respected not them, and, he

  returning to break our necks, they respect not us.

  Enter a Messenger

  MESSENGER Sir, if you'd save your life, fly to your house:

  To Sicinius

  The plebeians have got your fellow tribune

  And hale34 him up and down, all swearing if The Roman ladies bring not comfort home,

  They'll give him death by inches36.

  Enter another Messenger

  SICINIUS What's the news?

  SECOND MESSENGER Good news, good news: the ladies have prevailed, The Volscians are dislodged39, and Martius gone: A merrier day did never yet greet Rome,

  No, not th'expulsion of the Tarquins41.

  SICINIUS Friend, art thou certain this is true?

  Is't most certain?

  SECOND MESSENGER As certain as I know the sun is fire: Where have you lurked that you make doubt of it?

  Ne'er through an arch so hurried the blown46 tide As the recomforted47 through th'gates.

  Trumpets, hautboys, drums beat all together

  Why, hark you:

  The trumpets, sackbuts, psalteries and fifes48, Tabors49 and cymbals and the shouting Romans Make the sun dance.

  A shout within

  Hark you!

  MENENIUS This is good news:

  I will go meet the ladies. This Volumnia

  Is worth of consuls, senators, patricians,

  A city full of tribunes, such as you,

  A sea and land full. You have prayed well today:

  This morning for ten thousand of your throats

  I'd not have given a doit58. Hark, how they joy!

  [Music] sound still with the shouts

  SICINIUS First, the gods bless you for your tidings: next,

  To the Messenger

  Accept my thankfulness.

  SECOND MESSENGER Sir, we have all great cause to give great thanks.

  SICINIUS They are near the city?

  SECOND MESSENGER Almost at point64 to enter.

  SICINIUS We'll meet them, and help the joy.

  Exeunt

  [Act 5 Scene 5]

  running scene 20 continues

  Enter two Senators with Ladies [Volumnia, Virgilia and Valeria]

  passing over the stage, with other Lords

  A SENATOR Behold our patroness, the life of Rome!

  Call all your tribes together, praise the gods,

  And make triumphant fires: strew flowers before them:

  Unshout the noise that banished Martius:

  Repeal him with the welcome of his mother:

  Cry 'Welcome, ladies, welcome!'

  ALL Welcome, ladies, welcome!

  A flourish with Drums and Trumpets

  [Exeunt]

  [Act 5 Scene 6]

  running scene 21

  Enter Tullus Aufidius with Attendants

  AUFIDIUS Go tell the lords o'th'city I am here:

  Deliver them this paper: having read it,

  Bid them repair3 to th'market-place, where I, Even in theirs and in the commons' ears,

&
nbsp; Will vouch the truth of it. Him5 I accuse The city ports by this6 hath entered, and Intends t'appear before the people, hoping

  To purge himself with words. Dispatch.

  [Exeunt Attendants]

  Enter three or four Conspirators of Aufidius' faction

  Most welcome.

  FIRST CONSPIRATOR How is it with our general?

  AUFIDIUS Even so as with a man by his own

  Alms impoisoned, and with his12 charity slain.

  SECOND CONSPIRATOR Most noble sir, if you do hold the same intent Wherein you wished us parties14, we'll deliver you Of15 your great danger.

  AUFIDIUS Sir, I cannot tell:

  We must proceed as we do find the people.

  THIRD CONSPIRATOR The people will remain uncertain whilst 'Twixt you there's difference19: but the fall of either Makes the survivor heir of all.

  AUFIDIUS I know it,

  And my pretext to strike at him admits22

  A good construction. I raised him, and I pawned23

  Mine honour for his truth: who being so heightened24, He watered his new plants25 with dews of flattery, Seducing so my friends: and to this end

  He bowed his nature, never known before

  But to be rough, unswayable, and free28.

  THIRD CONSPIRATOR Sir, his stoutness29

  When he did stand for consul, which he lost

  By lack of stooping--

  AUFIDIUS That I would have spoke of32: Being banished for't, he came unto my hearth,

  Presented to my knife his throat: I took him,

  Made him joint-servant with me, gave him way35

  In all his own desires, nay, let him choose

  Out of my files37, his projects to accomplish, My best and freshest men: served his designments38

  In mine own person: holp39 to reap the fame Which he did end40 all his, and took some pride To do myself this wrong: till at the last

  I seemed his follower, not partner, and

  He waged me with his countenance43, as if I had been mercenary44.

  FIRST CONSPIRATOR So he did, my lord:

  The army marvelled at it, and in46 the last, When he had carried47 Rome and that we looked For no less spoil than glory--

  AUFIDIUS There was it49, For which my sinews shall be stretched50 upon him.

  At a few drops of women's rheum51, which are As cheap as lies, he sold the blood and labour

  Of our great action: therefore shall he die,

  And I'll renew me in his fall.

  Drums and Trumpets sound, with great shouts of the people

  But hark.

  FIRST CONSPIRATOR Your native town you entered like a post55, And had no welcomes home: but he returns

  Splitting the air with noise.